Connect to the crest, commit to the College

At the first assembly of the new academic year, 2025 School Captain Val Davies delivered an inspiring speech, launching the leadership theme for the year: "Connect to the Crest, Commit to the College."

Addressing students, staff, and guests, Davies emphasised the importance of unity, personal growth, and embracing the core values symbolised by the Scotch College crest.

Good morning teachers, students, parents and guests. Welcome to the first assembly for the new academic year.  My name is Val Davies and it is a great honour for me to take on the role as your school captain for 2024/25.

Firstly I'd like to thank David Walton and the outgoing Year 12 cohort, for their support, exemplary leadership and contribution to the lasting legacy of our College.  Your positive impact is undeniable, and we sincerely appreciate everything you've done.

Last week the 2025 leaders and I met to discuss our missions and visions. We were also tasked with the exciting job of coming up with a school theme for the year.

We decided that our theme for this year would be:

"Connect to the Crest, Commit to the College."

So, what message do we hope this theme will convey?  I'll start with the first part of the theme, "Connect to the Crest."

For those new or younger boys who may not completely understand the symbolism of what the Crest represents, the Crest is made up our school colours, the Bible, which signifies higher learning, the Scottish thistle bush and the Black Swan, representing the link between Western Australia and Scotland.

It also has a Latin motto, which translates to "As God was with our fathers, so may he be with us." A similar sentiment is shared in our school song.

Taken as a whole, the Crest embodies the identity and shared values of the College. It's a unifying symbol and a reminder to us all that although each person at the school has individual ambitions and paths, we are all united in the Scotch community.

When I look around the Dickinson Centre, I see so many bright, interesting and exceptional individuals.

The pursuit of excellence symbolised by the prominent book on our Crest is one of the school's most important values that I'm sure the founding fathers had front of mind for Scotch College when it was formed 127 years ago.

We only have to attend an assembly to hear about the many and wide-ranging accomplishments you boys achieve.

I know that watching and supporting you this year as you all reach new heights will be such a highlight for me in my role as School Captain.

But I also know that being excellent comes in all shapes and sizes.  Yes, it is wonderful to strive for our best academically or in co-curricular activities, but I believe there is much more to a Scotch boy than this one attribute.

I often find that the most remarkable people I've met haven't necessarily been the loudest or the most visible or the highest achievers.  They are the ones who are consistent in their values – they show authenticity, humility and kindness.

In preparing for this speech, I thought a little more about the importance and power of such values, and specifically about what impact employing them now in our daily lives at school would have on our future lives in 10, 20 or even 50 years time?

And so, I talked to some much older and wiser adults about the impact their school days had on their later lives. There seemed to be a common thread that came up time and time again.

They said that you may not remember the finer details, the well- equipped classrooms, all the teachers' names or what mark you got for a particular test. Instead, you tend to remember some incidental moment or perhaps a fleeting interaction - whether that be a person who made you laugh or cry, valued or rejected.

What is significant about these moments? I think there are two things: firstly, they are always with other human beings and secondly, they are often outside – or at least outside of class.

I realise that we don't live in a society where everything is perfect.  At school, naturally we are drawn to certain people, and don't get along perfectly with everyone.

But each small interaction – a pat on the back, talking to someone new, saying thank you, giving up some of your time to help another, cheering loudly in the stands, standing up for people who have a lesser voice than you – is a unifying environment that we as Scotch boys create for ourselves.

There are times when its ok to lean on others, just as they lean on you when they need a steady foundation and it is through our connections that we can achieve great things.

I hope that by being brave enough to create these little interactions this year, that this way of supporting each other can becomes contagious. Like a pebble in a pond, it will ripple throughout the school, which may well see you boys in 10, 20 or 50 years time reflecting back on that incidental moment that has stayed with you as a precious memory – a moment of connection that lasts through time.

The powerful thing is that every student has the ability to demonstrate and strengthen the values represented on our school crest.  It is not just a symbol of tradition, but a canvas to which we all contribute.

By embracing the school's ideals and living them out every day, we enhance what they mean which will helps to shape the legacy for when we come to pass the banner and the baton on.

Which ties quite nicely to our second part of the theme:

"Commit to the College." I think that when we engage in positive interactions, one of the most important bi-products of that is the creation of a sense of spirit. And because of this spirit, of safety and being valued, it means we might have the courage to try something new.

Knowing we have the support of the Clan, we can afford to be a bit more vulnerable, we can try and maybe fail, and ask for help, because we know that support is there.

So, I would say to you at the start of this academic year, what better time than now to explore and try different things, to get involved in the extraordinary array of opportunities we have at our school.

Yes, it definitely can be scary to show up, just like I'm experiencing today – I would be lying if I said there aren't plenty of nerves attached to standing and delivering this speech in front of you all.

But if we try and avoid experiences, we shut ourself off from everything new and potentially something we might love, because while vulnerability is certainly a part of fear and self-doubt, it can also be the start of these: belonging, fun, laughter, trust, empathy and creativity.

Remember, each of us has our own unique strengths, and our special way of contributing to the world. Focus on your own journey. Yes, we often compare what we do with others – that can be a way of striving to be better. But we often neglect to compare what we are doing with our own capabilities.

There's a quote by Albert Einstein that I think captures this perfectly:  "Everyone is a genius," he said, "But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

We need to start by recognising that we are not all going to be good at everything, but we are all going to be good at something, so find that thing and, whatever it is, don't let people's indifference towards you or it stop you from doing what makes you happy.

As Dave Walton said last week, the school provides us with every opportunity to be "happy" in our future.

To end today, I would like to leave you with a thought from philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel, who reimagined the most famous lines in the history of English Literature when he said,

"To be or not to be is NOT the question."

"The vital question is HOW to be and HOW not to be."

I'm so looking forward to seeing how all of you will be this year, Connecting to the Crest and Committing to the College.